Polite Dissent

Remember back in 1997, when an episode of Pokemon was accused of causing seizures in Japanese children? Recent follow-up research has shown what was suspected: the show caused seizures only in people who were already prone to seizures, but not in the general population.

A certain percentage of individuals have always been susceptible to seizures caused by lights flashing in just the right way. This is nothing new. There are instances during the Vietnam War of seizures being triggered by the light flickering through rotating helicopter blades.

The Pokemon episode was simply another one of these situations. Similarly, this is why videogames carry seizure warnings.

These situations do not cause epilepsy as much as they uncover a susceptibility to seizures that was already there.

(I’ve seen that episode at a convention, and all I can saw is “Wow, that was actually painful to watch.” Not because of the script, but because of all the bright flashing lights…no seizures for me, though!)